


Imagine A Safe Place: Part Two

by makoredeyes



Series: Synthetic Mind, Synthetic Body: Human Soul [2]
Category: Titanfall
Genre: Bromance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Existential Angst, Gen, Simulacrum - Freeform, metamorphasis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 08:48:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10716126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makoredeyes/pseuds/makoredeyes
Summary: ((Temporarily back burner'd))  Jack Cooper's life just keeps getting weirder and weirder.Direct Continuation ofImagine A Safe PlaceRating and Genre subject to change.





	Imagine A Safe Place: Part Two

 

                Jack Cooper set patiently on the workbench as Mu fussed with him, running a series of checks on his systems, muttering to herself as she went.  He had figured out how to offline his visual feed, and sat with his head turned down, optic dark.  He tracked the woman’s movements internally, could nearly visualize her anyway, as every breath she made registered, every footfall thundering acutely.   He jerked, recoiling, each time she touched him, her hands feeling too-hot on his metal skin.  At his side, BT stood with one hand resting right beside Jack’s wrist, a single fingertip occasionally reaching out to tap him reassuringly. 

                Jack had no way of knowing if an AI experienced sensory overload like he was, when it was first initialized, but BT seemed to understand. Jack pondered what BT had said – that the Ark had changed him, and wondered what his friend had meant by that.  He fidgeted, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together idly, analyzing the input the motions provided.  He had a sense of pressure, and temperature, and tactile sensitivity enough to discern texture.   This relieved Jack immensely. He couldn’t imagine existing without his senses – what was living life worth if you couldn’t experience the world around you?

                Mu must have finished up her work, because she thumped Jack’s back with a metallic _thunk_ , making Jack cringe and reluctantly reinitialize his ocular systems.  He startled, reeling backwards when he realized her face was only inches from his.

                “No!” He jumped, fumbling in a tangle of unfamiliar limbs, cabling and wires, and tumbled from the table.  He landed with a horrific crash at BT’s feet.  It didn’t hurt, but a series of alerts crowded his vision, reporting the effects the fall had on his systems.  He recoiled, curling up on himself on the floor.  BT crouched down at his side, and all kinds of new alerts lit up at his proximity. Battle computer data was bombarding him, analyzing his potential to be a threat, as well as issuing reports on his energy levels, processing power.  Jack fumbled with it all, frustrated, and shut off everything.

                Silence, black and floating, engulfed Jack.  He drifted in nothingness, his mind quivering.

                “That is a tremendously unsafe habit to keep, Jack.”  BT’s voice broke through the nothing, making Jack cringe again.  He could feel his friend’s presence next to him, and figured the bot had hard-lined him again. 

                “I can’t…” Jack trailed off. He couldn’t _anything._   There was no point listing what he couldn’t.

                “You will soon.” BT assured him calmly.  Was his voice… _sad?_ Jack couldn’t see anything, the bot was nothing more than a voice in his head.  “One step at a time,” BT went on.  “I’m going to help you.”

                “Don’t go…” Jack sobbed the words.

                “I’m not going anywhere,” BT assured him.  _Trust me._   Jack felt BT’s presence go deeper, gently intruding into his systems.  Jack trailed behind him, following along.

                “Tactile sensors first,” BT said softly, and the floor materialized beneath Jack. There were hands on his shoulders, holding him steady.  A status report reached Jack, alerting him that he was undamaged.  Gyroscopic stabilizers were ready, power systems were online and stable.   Environment was safe for non-organics.  “Your body provided this information to you unconsciously before.  You will learn to accept it as second-nature and the reports will not be intrusive unless they are urgent.”  BT paused, and briefly his voice was distant and fuzzy, as if he had turned away from a radio.  “He’s fine. Please let me handle it.” Another pause. “You said it yourself… _yes_.”  Jack listened, unsure of how he could hear when his audio receptors were shut down.  “Ok. Audio next,” BT said softly, and the words registered externally, a low sound from right beside Jack’s head. Jack stiffened, not expecting the sudden change, and BT was tapping on his shoulder with a finger again, grounding him.  The sharp _tink tink tink_ his fingertip against Jack’s armor sounded louder than it should have been to Jack.  There was another soft thunking sound from nearby; BT lightly tapping his foot against a cabinet. Jack tracked the sound.  Somewhere further away a door closed.  He could hear the quiet hum of his and BT’s generators.  A very long way away, someone laughed, the sound alien with how relaxed it was.  “Consider which sounds you can hear are important,” BT instructed, and he adjusted his grip on Jack, carefully lifting him into a fully sitting position.  Jack could feel the minute vibration of the other bot’s generator as BT propped him against his chassis.  Jack thought about what he could hear around him, focusing on BT’s voice, and the sound of his body working, and the other distractions seemed to fade away.   Jack shifted, pushing back against BT slightly, reassured by the solid presence at his back.  BT waited patiently, and after a moment, Jack took the step himself to reinitialize visuals.  The plain white cabinets, gray floor, and his abandoned worktable were not very overwhelming to look at.  He twisted around until he could see BT.  The bot blinked benignly at him.

                “Everyone else has gone, for now.” BT informed him.  “On my request.”  Jack nodded, relaxing a little further.  He sat up, pulling away from BT’s chassis. 

                “How do you do it?” He asked quietly.  “The sensory overload… how do you cope?”

                “There is no coping. How did you, as a human, function without gyros and counterweights? How could you take a single step without falling over, or get anywhere when you could only see one spectrum of light?  It just is,” BT said.  “I was built for this.” 

                Jack made a dissatisfied sound.

                “Very rarely has someone become something entirely different than what they were originally,” BT said.  “To have to readjust to everything… it’s an unimaginable hardship,” Jack watched as BT turned away from him, head hung.  He could feel BT’s guilt. Jack glanced down, realizing there was still a cable draped between their bodies.  BT followed his gaze after a moment, and reached out to gingerly pluck the line from Jack’s side.  BT’s presence within Jack vanished, and it felt as though a light had been shut off.  Jack flinched. Even with the Titan sitting right at his side, filling Jack’s vision, BT seemed distant to Jack.

                “Will we still be able to reestablish a Neural Link?” Jack blurted, abruptly aware of how much more comfortable he was with BT…within him?  He didn’t understand how the Link worked, but after the destruction of BT’s Titan chassis, the link had been severed.   Jack had been too sick to miss it at the time, but now that he could finally gather his thoughts, the gap left in his mind was tremendous. 

                BT looked back up sharply, startled by the question. He clambered to his feet, extending a hand down to Jack to help him up as well.

                “Of course…” BT was saying.  Jack swayed on his feet, trembling.  It was a chore to sort out the input he received, trying to understand the data his own weight on his feet was producing.  “I… wasn’t certain you would want to.” BT said.  Jack tilted his head inquisitively.  “I… Hope you’ll forgive me for my blunders,” BT trailed off.

                “Heartache isn’t like you,” Jack said sternly. 

                “It is, these days,” BT replied.  Jack wanted to sigh, but he couldn’t, without lungs. He tried not to think too hard on that.

                “You did the best you could with the information and resources you had.  You can’t live in hindsight, it doesn’t work.”  BT blinked. “You’ll get used to it,” Jack promised.

                BT made a soft chuckle.

                “And here I am determined to try and help you, and already you’re reassuring _me_.”

                “Well, we make a good team that way.” Jack said, experimentally taking a small step. He staggered, but the gyros did their work and he regained his balance quickly.  BT’s hand shot out, catching him by the elbow anyway.  “Anyway, once I’m up to speed with…” He gestured down at himself. “ _This…_ I hope we can re-link.  I feel like something’s missing.”

                “In fairness, _all_ of you is missing,” BT quipped and Jack couldn’t help but let out a laugh.  The sound was only slightly strained.

                “Was that a joke, BT?” He asked.  BT’s optic was bright, and Jack suspected that meant silent laughter.

                “Perhaps.”

                Jack chuckled.  BT had been changed.  More than once, perhaps.  He, like Jack, had been through a lot.

                “I think I like you like this,” Jack said, and he hoped that BT could detect the smile he tried to put into his voice. 

                “Ok, knock it off, you two.” Jack startled at the sudden intrusion of Miss Veauxver from the doorway, but BT appeared unconcerned.  He had likely detected her approach, Jack mused. He would have to figure out how that worked, too.  Her bright blue eyes sparkled as she fixed her friendly gaze on Jack. “Feeling a little less freaked out, Jack?”  Jack shifted on his feet, looking down at the bare metal, vaguely foot-shaped appendages below his armored knees, and shrugged.

                “Not really?” Mu laughed at his reply, circling around the workbench to assess him more closely. To his relief, her movements were slower, and she did not touch him this time.

                “I can imagine. But at least you’ve calmed down, yeah?”  She held a datapad up, scanning him. Jack unconsciously backed away a step, colliding with BT.  “Just checking core stability, Cooper. I won’t pester you more than necessary, I promise.”  Her voice was calm, and significantly quieter than usual.  She was doing her best to not overwhelm him. 

                “Miss Veauxver is accustomed to dealing with Artificial and Synthetic minds.   You are not the first, nor the last to express anxiety upon initialization.” BT said, standing his ground behind Jack and letting the Pilot brace against him.  “Although your situation is unique, your troubles are not.  Despite how she presents herself, she is quite talented at what she does.  You can trust her, Jack.”  Jack did, and he searched for the words to say so, but failed to find anything he could say.

                “And you’re not even the worst, to be honest,” Mu said lightly, unbothered by Jack’s silence.  She prodded him lightly with an alan wrench.  “Arm up, I need to get to the port at your side…Sorry, gotta touch.” Jack obeyed, relieved to have the warning.  “The Ronin AI…those guys are manic on a normal day. They’re downright _neurotic_ on bootup.” She fiddled with Jack for a moment then snapped a panel shut, and Jack jumped a little. It tickled.  “Okay kiddo,” she said, smiling back up at Jack, who now towered over her.  “Everything’s honky-dory.  Your systems are still integrating, which may be one reason why everything is overwhelming to you right now.  It should all settle down by the time you complete your first recharge cycle.  A soft reboot might help also, but I want you to get up and try to get the hang of yourself a little first.  Your processor needs data to calibrate itself.” Jack nodded. It all made sense. Sort of.  “Keep BT with you at all times at least for the next forty-eight hours…” She laughed to herself. “Not that you two aren’t practically welded to one another anyway.”  ‘

                “I will do my best to maintain Jack’s well-being.” BT said stiffly.  Mu laughed.

                “Um...Duh.  No offense, buddy, but the whole Militia knows that.”

                “You’re doing a good job, BT.” Jack broke in.

                “Since I’m now technically your primary advisor, medically, I’m ordering you a week of R&R, and an additional week of light training only. We’ll reassess your integration at that point.  I don’t want you rushing anything.  If any abnormalities arise, I want you right back here lickety-split. Got it?” 

                BT and Jack both nodded in unison.

                “Got it.”

                “Affirmative.”

                Mu threw her head back and let out a long laugh.

                “Oh man, you two are amazing!” She giggled. “Get out of here.  Get outside and try going for a walk or something.” She wiped one eye, grinning. “And hang in there, Cooper.  You got this.”

**Author's Note:**

> Does this still count as body horror? IDK...


End file.
